1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a sliding roof device which is designed to close an opening made in the upper part of the body of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention can be used especially advantageously, but not exclusively, in the area of commercial vehicles.
Vehicles are known with a rear roof part which can be opened via a sliding roof device which is inserted into the upper part of the body. This sliding roof device generally has the form of a pane which is conventionally called a lifting cover and which is mounted to be able to move relative to the opening made in the upper part of the body of the motor vehicle between a closed and an opened position. The whole is arranged such that the movable pane is able, on the one hand, to close the opening in the closed position, and on the other hand, the is able to extend to a position which at least partially clears the opening in the opened position.
In the sliding roof devices known from the prior art, especially those should be mentioned in which motion of the movable pane takes place by motor power.
The use of motors enables design of systems with motions of displacement of the movable pane which are relatively complex to guide. In practice, these movements are almost always complex. In fact, sliding roof devices of this type are generally designed such that the movable pane, on the one hand, can be positioned flush in the closed position, and on the other hand, can extend parallel above the roof head liner in the opened position.
However, this type of sliding roof device has the disadvantage that it is very expensive as a result of the very great structural complexity which is dictated by the motor drive of the movable pane. This configuration, in fact, requires installation of motors, driving means such as, for example, cables and other deflection rolls, and guide means such as, for example, slide rails. Ultimately, a sliding roof device with a motor-driven pane is expensive and offers reliability which can be unsatisfactory; this makes its use less advantageous, for example, in commercial vehicles.
To address this difficulty, of course, it is possible to use a sliding roof device with purely manual operation in the traditional manner. In particular, a system is intended which has a half opening pane; this currently constitutes the most common configuration in commercial vehicles.
However, this type of sliding roof device is not free of disadvantages either, since rotary installation of the movable pane triggers an especially large requirement for space in the opened position. This problem is otherwise so pronounced that the whole is generally designed such that the rotary pane can be unhinged. But, specifically, this means that the problem of the space requirement is simply shifted since it is accordingly necessary to configure the stowage of the removable element.